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Quick answers
How Marion began
When was Marion founded?
1833
The Marion post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.
2020 census: 851193 years
Founding year: the first Marion post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Marion’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Marion. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1902Chambersburg sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Marion.
The story so far
Marion, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Marion yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Marion is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 851. It lies along U.S. Route 11, 6 miles (10 km) south of Chambersburg and 5 miles (8 km) north of Greencastle, in the southwest corner of Guilford Township. Interstate 81 passes along the eastern edge of the community, with access from Exit 10 (Pennsylvania Route 914). I-81 leads northeastward 37 miles (60 km) to Carlisle and south 17 miles (27 km) to Hagerstown, Maryland. Marion was originally called Independence, and under the latter name was laid out circa 1810. A post office called Marion has been in operation since 1833. Th…
Its first post office opened in 1833. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 953 to 851 (-11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Marion in 1887
Passages that mention Marion, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Franklin county, Pennsylvania1887 · page 315Read the page →
Read the text
miles south of Strasburg. The present structure, built in 1859, is about a mile and a half farther south than the old one. The church near Brown's Mill was erected years ago. It was discontinued and a new one built, in 1867, about one mile north of Marion, on the road leading from that place to Chambersburg. In 1860 another church was erected in Southampton Township, at the lower end of Culbertson's Row, and is known as the Row Church. It is near the Southampton Station, on the Baltimore & Cumberland Valley Railroad extension.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania1887 · page 315Read the page →
Read the text
Mill was erected years ago. It was discontinued and a new one built, in 1867, about one mile north of Marion, on the road leading from that place to Chambersburg. In 1860 another church was erected in Southampton Township, at the lower end of Culbertson's Row, and is known as the Row Church. It is near the Southampton Station, on the Baltimore & Cumberland Valley Railroad extension.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Franklin county, Pennsylvania1887 · page 611Read the page →
Read the text
Williamson was laid out in 1870 by Samuel Z. Hawbecker. He built the principal buildings in the place. It is on the Southern Pennsylvania Railroad, five miles from Marion; has about sixty inhabitants. Edenville is at the foot of Parnell's Knob, northwest of St. Thomas. QUINCY— 1838.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania1887 · page 611Read the page →
Read the text
Williamson was laid out in 1870 by Samuel Z. Hawbecker. He built the principal buildings in the place. It is on the Southern Pennsylvania Railroad, five miles from Marion; has about sixty inhabitants. Edenville is at the foot of Parnell's Knob, northwest of St. Thomas. QUINCY—1838.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
